One Class’ Quest to Save a Cape Breton Lighthouse

Political science students at Cape Breton University have teamed up with their professor and classmates to save one historical landmark close to home. The lighthouse in Gabarus, Nova Scotia is facing closure after The Department of Fisheries and Oceans declared it to be in a state of decay. Professor Tom Urbaniak, whose passion for the landscape’s history sparked the movement, decided to turn the lighthouse’s preservation into a class project.

Together with the help of their professor, students in Urbaniak’s class formed the Gabarus Lightkeepers Society, whose sole purpose is to protect and conserve the lighthouse. The group will enforce the lighthouse’s upkeep, and hopes are to rejuvenate the structure as a tourist attraction. Already, the lighthouse society has noted that there is plenty of demand to see the lighthouse, with tourists and travelers coming from all across Canada and the U.S.

The Lightkeepers Society hopes to extend their role to revitalize other historical features of Nova Scotia, including the many abandoned trails along the shorelines.